I have a couple questions First of which is in regards to trains Nos 38 and 39. I know the trains originated/terminated at MP’s Centennial Yard, but what was their routing there? When they came across the Rock Island from Irving did they come straight into Centennial via Tower 55 or did they take their normal route into their 8th Avenue Yard via North Ft. Worth (Tower 60) and then come into Centennial via the transfer track along Vickery Boulevard? My third question is that I came across BN era info for a rock train, UX4, that got delivered to the MoP in Fort Worth. It came in on the Frisco into Irving but from there information is scarce. Was this a Frisco era train that BN continued or was it a later train that BN started? Thank you in advance.
1st question: No answer to routing, but I have always been curious what traffic was on Nos 38/39 that justified handling direct to MP at Centennial Yard. For two railroads that competed in the same corridors, it seems unusual. 3rd question: In 1985 MP conducted a cost study for swapping ballast with BN between MP's Gads Hill, MO quarry and BN's Ryder, OK quarry. This was to reduce mileage on moving each company's ballast via solely their own trackage, which is a non-revenue move. The study contemplated BN handing off ballast to MP at Ft Worth, and MP handing ballast off to BN at St Louis. I have no info on if this plan was put into action, I would be interested in knowing the years that UX4 was noted on paperwork.
The local "St. Louis Railfans" Facebook page frequently shows BNSF power pulling ballast trains along the UP Oak Hill Branch that connects the Main Line in the center of St. Louis to the former MP (UP) "Iron Mountain" line. I wonder if this is a continuation of the ballast hand-off being described?
The only thing I can think of was possibly auto parts and the like to the GM plant. Beyond that I can’t see it making much sense. Or possibly access to Houston/Galveston, but you’d think coming into Irving they’d use Burlington - Rock Island to handle that. As far as the rock train, it was UX3/UX4, with 3 being the loaded section. The paperwork I found is dated 1990, but considering MP was gone by then I do somewhat question that saying unless an old head wrote up the list. Oddly enough I can’t find UX3 listed on any of the BN lineups for the area. I do find mention of UX4, UX5, and UX6 though. The link below will take you to the page where I found the train numbers. https://wx4.org/to/foam/maps/2-Moore/026/BN_FtWorth_TrainSymbols-Moore.pdf You mention Ryder, OK, but I can’t find that anywhere and Google doesn’t come up with it.
I cannot imagine auto parts being in the mix, with MP serving KC and S.t Louis and handling almost all the parts to GM-Arlington. A large part of Frisco's interchange for South Texas was with SP at Dennison. Ryder, OK is/was MP 584.5, north of Ravia and south of Mill Creek, both towns just north of Madill. Ryder was named for the geologist who published a lot of papers about Oklahoma dolomite and was credited for helping the development of those resources. Google is rarely useful in finding places not often discussed online, especially railroad-only station names that have no relationship to surrounding townships.
Possibly a west Texas connection then? I’m merely spit balling at this point. It wouldn’t make much sense for it to be a MP to El Paso for handoff to SP for the west coast since they were using the Santa Fe to get to California. So maybe it was divided up between west Texas and the greater DFW metro area. Oh ok. I was figuring it was a station name vs an incorporated city. That makes sense. Thank you for the clarification.
Further digging, it looks like there were a couple of Ryders involved in Oklahoma geology. P D Ryder was a geologist. W E Ryder and sons started Rock Products Manufacturing Co. just north of the town of Troy, OK. This is along Hwy 1 and now appears to be called Mill Creek Dolomite. This plant shipped lump dolomite. Just north of this location is a granite rock quarry that was originally Century Granite, and it grew into the ballast quarry used by Frisco, and is now a very large facility operated by Martin Marietta. BNSF calls this location "Clark". A flyover on Google Maps showed 4 trains on the plant trackage. The whole Mill Creek Valley from Troy north to Ada is full of plants producing dolomite, granite, glass sand and frac sand.
I was looking at a 1966-68 and a 1975 operating data sheet. Train No 38 was blocked as follows: Priorities: 1. Perishables, forwarder merchandise, TOFC, Autos, Tulsa & beyond. 2. Irving set out (Fort Worth sub shorts including Dallas & Irving) Train No 39 on the 1975 sheet came in with Ft. Worth TOFC and Ft. Worth Others from Cherokee Yard, and at Irving picked up Ft. Worth & Beyond. On the 1966-68 sheet, it’s states Ft. Worth & Beyond at Cherokee Yard. There is no mention of Ft. Worth traffic prior to Cherokee Yard, but picks up from Nos 139, 439, 630, and locals. It leaves Lindenwood with Perishables, forwarder merchandise, TOFC, and autos/auto part and states “TULSA AND BEYOND.” At Sherman it states deliveries but no receiving. And finally at Irving it receives from the FW&D and locals. When it arrives at Ft Worth is delivers to everyone in town. So it seems then MP termination may have been a later move as the 1980 data sheet posted elsewhere in the forum specifically mentions “MP Yard” on it where the 1966-68 and 1975 sheets don’t.
